Deconstructing the Stereotype: Scheherazade's Feminist Voice
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Deconstructing the Stereotype: Scheherazade’s Feminist Voice Kathy H. Zimbaldi Westside High School INTRODUCTION I am an ESL teacher of 9th, 10th and 11th grade Advanced and Transitional students at Westside High School, the most evenly diverse student body in HISD. While the ethnic breakdown in HISD is 70% Hispanic, 20% Black and 10% White, Westside’s population is a neatly distributed one third each. And, although our immigrant population of roughly 200 is not as large as other high schools, it is remarkably diverse given its size. I teach students from over 35 countries and 5 continents; some of these students are refugees from war-torn countries while others are privileged children of petroleum engineers or teachers. All of them are non-native English language learners. The required curriculum supports broad goals for these English learners in the four language arts strands of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Because my students are classified as Advanced or Transitional, they often know a great deal of English, but lack the refinement of those skills necessary to survive in the mainstream English literature classes at Westside. What makes an ordinary class in language learning compelling is often determined by the relevance of the materials and the interest levels they generate. Given the daily media coverage of some turbulent areas of the Middle East, it seems natural to develop a curriculum unit that would help to establish a foundation of understanding about the area America both covets and fears simultaneously. Because my ESL students must daily negotiate and transfer meaning in language and culture as they attend an American high school in Houston and because they are accustomed to being “outsiders” no matter how warmly the student body and faculty welcome them, I find that these students are pleasantly surprised, and even charmed by any attempts made to embrace them, to learn their cultures and to hear their stories. This is especially true of students from the Middle East, whose presence is suspect, or at least marked, by the fact that they might come from “enemy lands.” Put a head scarf on it and “different” becomes magnified dramatically. I am fortunate to have great freedom within the ESL curriculum to create and refine materials according to student population needs; I feel sure that I can deliver the mandated teaching objectives while developing a culturally sensitive unit about the Middle East. I envision a two- week unit that is divided into two parts. The first part would present a broad historical backdrop of the geographic region known as the Middle East, and the influence of the birth of Islam on the region. This first part of the unit is necessary in order to lay a foundation for the appreciation of the second part: Scheherazade, the storyteller of the Tales of the Arabian Nights. My choice of Scheherazade serves a twofold purpose. One , to focus our attention as readers on a strong female voice—one that contradicts the Western stereotype of oppressed Arab women—and two, to underscore the impact of the oral tradition of storytelling, especially one that was entrusted to the female voice. Scheherazade is such a fascinating heroine—part psychiatrist, part warrior—that I know my students will enjoy the reading and analysis of some of the better known tales. I hope to look at Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad, as these stories have been captured in books and film; together we will explore the plots, characters and themes within. I have chosen Sinbad to Kathy H. Zimbaldi 149 illustrate the use of the frame tale; Aladdin and Ali Baba have similar stock themes of avarice, deceit and cunning. They will be used (beyond the usual vocabulary and reading comprehension strategies) for compare and contrast techniques in short answer responses. OBJECTIVES Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. 128.42 (5) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to: A) analyze non-linear plot development (e.g., flashbacks, foreshadowing, sub- plots, parallel plot structures) and compare it to linear plot development; (B) analyze how authors develop complex yet believable characters in works of fiction through a range of literary devices, including character foils; and (C) analyze the way in which a work of fiction is shaped by the narrator's point of view. (14) Writing/Literary Texts. Students write literary texts to express their ideas and feelings about real or imagined people, events, and ideas. Students are responsible for at least two forms of literary writing. Students are expected to: (A) write an engaging story with a well-developed conflict and resolution, interesting and believable characters, and a range of literary strategies (e.g., dialogue, suspense) and devices to enhance the plot. (27) Second language acquisition/learning strategies. (A) use prior knowledge and experiences to understand meanings in English; (B) monitor oral and written language production and employ self-corrective techniques or other resources; and (C) use strategic learning techniques such as concept mapping, drawing, memorizing, comparing, contrasting, and reviewing to acquire basic and grade- level vocabulary. (28) Second language acquisition/listening. (I) demonstrate listening comprehension of increasingly complex spoken English by following directions, retelling or summarizing spoken messages, responding to questions and requests, collaborating with peers, and taking notes commensurate with content and grade-level needs. (29) Second language acquisition/speaking. (D) speak using grade-level content area vocabulary in context to internalize new English words and build academic language proficiency; (E) share information in cooperative learning interactions; (H) narrate, describe, and explain with increasing specificity and detail as more English is acquired; and (K) share prior knowledge with peers and others to facilitate communication and to foster respect for others. 150 Houston Teachers Institute RATIONALE For at the very heart of storytelling, journalism, writing, filmmaking, scholarship and teaching there still lies the hope that words wield power over understanding, perhaps over the very course of history—if only someone is listening. (Gauch 135) I have a twofold reason in my intent to uncover/discover the feminist voice of Scheherazade. First, I hope to make this unit a sincere effort towards balancing the distorted, media-fed, anti- feminist view of Muslim women that students in America see and hear through the lens of journalistic bias. While it is not the purpose of this paper to argue the positive or negative points of fundamentalist Islam, it is important, at the very least, to clarify the fact that all Muslims are not fundamentalists, nor are all Muslim women victims of misogyny. While I do believe that my international students have a better understanding of global affairs than their American counterparts, I still maintain that our curriculum is lacking when it comes to teaching students about the Middle East. While the technological world around us operates at unprecedented speeds, curriculum revision can seem to move at a glacial pace. Pedro Noguera, an urban sociologist at New York University and recent guest speaker in HISD’s Leadership Series, maintains that: To acquire this form of political literacy, our students must have an understanding of American and world history that goes far beyond regurgitating facts, dates and events, or passing state history exams. They must also understand the complexity of politics in ways that exceed what is typically made available to them in the mainstream media. In short, they must learn, as Paulo Freire once admonished, to ‘read the world’ so that they might have a clearer understanding of the forces shaping their lives. (Noguera and Cohen) And when we fail to teach students about current affairs in the Middle East we create a void in their educational experience; we raise students who accept as fact, and without question, the narrow spectrum of American journalistic coverage. This acceptance propagates a myopic tendency to generalize about an enormous region whose history, tradition, culture and size make it far too complicated a subject to reduce to generalizations. Shortly after the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, Noguera urged educators to find the time and space in the school curriculum to teach students about the Middle East: “The Middle Eastern focus of much of the war on terrorism poses a serious challenge to our schools, because many of our students lack an understanding of the history and culture of the region that would be needed to understand the complex issues” (Noguera and Cohen). In the spirit of educational equilibrium, students must at least be taught that there are two sides to every argument, and certainly more than one point of view in every political situation. “To do anything less is not only irresponsible but a willful neglect of our professional duties as educators” (Noguera and Cohen). While this unit will not directly focus on the politics and policies of the Middle East, it will, by default, create an awareness of the rich oral tradition and feminist influence which permeate the centuries- old Tales of the Arabian Nights. This brings us to my second reason for creating this unit: to introduce my English Language Learners to literature that is overlooked in most ESL